honestly, i would say my mom’s closet. her, along with my sisters, are my where i get all of my fashion inspiration. that is the honest truth. i am very lucky to be surrounded by such genuinely beautiful people AND call them my family. i am obviously very proud biased, but they are as rad as they come. i would buy their hammy downs every single day of the week. i also have the best news EVER!! {you might have already heard} but my sister, kylee, opened the cutest clothing boutique i have EVER seen. it’s funny—we used to always go to slc to shop when i was younger. now, i live in slc + i’m trying to find a way to get up to logan to go to shop as much as humanly possible.

welp, i’m only about 33 weeks behind on the weekly update that i promised to jonboy. i can’t seem to keep up with anything lately. but i’ll try to add a few picts each day so that you can see what we’ve been up to.
mo came down yesterday for a dentist appointment + stayed to slumber with us. she watched the boys while we went to a 10 o’clock movie. have you seen the saratov approach yet? ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. i’m still having anxiety. i loved it, but i think i held my breath the entire movie. sporatic date nights are just our style. i filled my left + right pockets with swedish fish, hid jon’s liter of blue shock mtn dew along with 3 rice krispy treats + a handful of grape hi-chews inside my coat. we ate 1/16 of a large popcorn + called it a date.

jonboy teased me a little when i busted out my winter gear on friday. it didn’t quite snow over the weekend, but it was cold enough that i thought for sure it was going to. you gotta do what you gotta do to make it through a UT winter, ya know?  i lived in this coat last winter + i’m pretty sure i’ll be doing the same thing this year. jonah’s energy level has been OFF the CHARTS lately. we end up at the park atleast once {sometimes twice} a day. as always, he’s obsessed with sports. baseball, football, soccer, baskeeetball, volleyball, tennis, wrestling, football + more baseball. you name it, he’s into it. before getting him dressed, i get out a ball + put it on top of his outfit. “COOOOL soccer pants, buddy. or look at this new baseball shirt, did you know this is what Chuckee wears. . .” you get the point. believe it or not, it really works . funny boy. crazy mom.

have i ever told you that in 2nd grade i would sneak my brothers john stockton jersey in my backpack + change into it the second i got to school? all because i wanted to match chad champlin, the cute new boy who wore a karl malone jersey. the best part? chad is now married to my little sister.
—– guess i had it coming with my own kids. 🙂

this camping trip was up american fork canyon to celebrate jonboy turning 28.
riggins was still in my tummy, jonah was addicted to the “nun nun” {4 wheeler} + i had major preggo bladder. which meant peeing twice in the middle of the freezing night while trying to not wake the other tent stayers. rough + tough eh?
i’ve been working hard at getting all 980,246 of my pictures organized.
why is it so hard for me to keep on top of my picture taking addiction?
for whatever reason my photo organizational skills are about as good as my high diving skills. aka nonexistent.
it makes blogging a little more headache-ish.
betcha can’t guess what my new years resolution is.

tonight i fell asleep reading jonah to sleep around 8:30. jonboy tucked us in + turned off the lamp. normally he wakes me up to come to bed with him, but this time – – – he just let me sleep. i woke up to a hungry riggy wanting to eat. i fed him, climbed back into bed + here i am. on my laptop, cross legged indian style, typing my thoughts, on our bed, at 3 am.
i’ve gotten several emails over the passed little while that have left me speechless. all very kind emails, with heartfelt questions regarding perfection. or how + why i am so happy all of the time. to be honest, it makes me instantly feel guilty. like, do i need to post more negative things on here to show that my life isn’t any different than anyone else’s?  please don’t take me the wrong way here. a compliment is a compliment.  but lately i feel like the word perfect has a negative underline that comes along behind it. like maybe it should be written as, aren’t you just mrs. perfect. your house is perfect, your hair is perfect,  your pants are perfect, your leaves on  your tree are perfect, your life is just perfection. i want to say back I’M NOT PERFECT. my life isn’t perfect. my life isn’t any more perfect than yours is. but i won’t. i honestly believe that life is as perfect as we believe it is. we all get to choose how happy we want to be. how jealous we want to be. how good of a sister we want to be. how kind of a wife we want to be. how patient of a mother we want to be. all in all – how perfect we want to be. pardon, some events are out of our control. awful things happen to perfectly happy people. (ha, like the wordage there?) but we have to learn to take the bad with the good + vice versa. i choose to share the picture of the clean half of the balcony, not the side with diapers from yesterday because i was too lazy to walk down to the garage to throw the stinky’s away in the rain. life is about learning to laugh at yourself, recognizing that you don’t have to have a “perfect life” to live a beautiful life. learn to love your life the way that it is + i know that you will feel happy. in my mind, your level of happiness + appreciation for your own life directly affects the “perfect” level that others can see. i truly believe life is what we make of it + that you are only as happy as you think you are or as you want to be. i know that my personal happiness level reflects the choices that i have made throughout my life. i have had to work hard to get to where i am at today + am very proud of the little family that i have.
i am pretty choosy in what i do + don’t share on the internet. this blog is my place to share the happiest moments we share as a family. i love plopping jonah on my lap, scrolling through old posts + letting him relive each adventure. i love watching his little face light up as he watches our movie, or hearing that one of jon’s clients recognizes him from the parrish place blog. such a joy for us to reflect as a family + i will continue to document our happy times together. i love documenting these happy times + will continue to do so for the very reasons i mentioned.

“Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion…What is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”  – – – anna quindlen 

amen + amen, anna quindlen. giving up on being perfect + beginning the work of becoming yourself. i love that so much. lets get to work. i love you all. i love my life. i am far from perfect, but i am happy because i choose to be! 🙂 goodnight.

riggins got to share his special blessing day with his cousin, tucker.
what a special day it was for these precious little friends. we were all sorts of emotional.
we love tucker like a child of our own + know that these two will be wreaking havoc together in no time.
lots of family came to support us + we had plenty of yummy food to go around.
these special occasions wouldn’t be near as beautiful as they are without my mom.
she’s talented beyond measure + puts her heart into all that she does.
she is my thomas the engine. she turns my “i think i can i think i can i think i cans” into, lets get it done.
she came down a couple of days early to help make sure things were in order.
she helped me buy the food, find an outfit, cook the treats, do the laundry + change the bums + spiffy up my house.
we are very lucky to have her in our life. i would be be lost without her.
late nights, lots of laughs, a few tears, tired feet + lots of memories were made last weekend.

jon always plans the best family home evenings.
yesterday was no exception.
——————————————————-
when i lived in provo i worked at gold’s gym.
i wore a fake wedding ring every day to work. (i’m not even going to try to explain)
elder holland came in one day + my ring was sitting on the counter.
he laughed. he knew what i was doing.
as i walked him back to the tennis courts to watch his nephew play tennis he asked me about marriage.
jon + i had broken up not too long before + i was all kinds of emotional about our status.
he told me to that jon would fight for me if the timing was right.
fast forward to last week.
jon has been working with this is the place heritage park.
elder holland was up there last thursday + jon ran into him.
E X A C T L Y four years after i had met him.
like really, how ironic is that?

there are tender mercies all around us.
i consider time to be one of them.
i believe time is a special gift we have been given.
it’s easy to take time for granted + forget how special it really is.
time heals, while allowing us to learn + grow all along the way.
——————————————————-

for FHE we visited the monuments, fed the horses, shared panda to-go + planned our fall bucket list.
we are still kinda soaking in the fact that we are a family of four.
this is the place is beautiful + will definitely be seeing more of us this season.

i had someone at hair school ask me if i’m really THAT good of friends with my mom + my sisters.
i laughed.
the answer is yes.
actually, YESSSSSSSS.
probably even more than we show you.
it really blows my mind that i’m related to such incredible people.

• i love fall.
• i love path.
• i love jonboy.
• i love my kids.
• i love my mom.
• i love living in the avenues.
• i love when my sisters come to visit.
• i love the jessie’s girl pandora station.
• i love getting love letters from my boyfriend.
• i love borrowing my mom’s clothes.
• i love talking on our balcony after the kids are in bed.
• i love the way riggins smiles after he nurses.
• i love the kroger brand crystal light packets.
• i love looking through our seattle pictures.
• i love the way jonah says church- – – “chuuuuch”
• i really really really love being in love with jonboy.